


You Make me Nervous

by fleurfeyrac



Category: Free!, Splash Free!
Genre: First Kiss, M/M, Minor Bullying, Red String of Fate, fluffy fluff, nitorin kisses, red day, rin is emotionally constipated
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-25
Updated: 2014-05-25
Packaged: 2018-01-26 12:49:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,945
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1688942
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fleurfeyrac/pseuds/fleurfeyrac
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Fourth grader Aiichirou Nitori is bullied for the pure reason that he's the runt of all the students. His voice is higher, he's smaller than the rest of the boys, he's weak, and a total dork. But a boy in his class, Matsuoka Rin, comes and saves the day when Seijuurou decides to push Nitori down at recess. </p><p>Nitori decided from that day on that he would have his red string of fate tie himself and Rin together. His love for the red headed boy stretches through grade school, all the way to high school. But will Nitori stop watching his crush from afar and tell him how he really feels?</p>
            </blockquote>





	You Make me Nervous

**Author's Note:**

> I haven't written fics in forever, so if this sucks I apologize terribly. This is for my girl, Salome. I love you dearly and you love nitorin! I hope you enjoy and if there are any complaints don't hesitate to tell me!!

"Leave him alone!" A voice came from above the silver haired boy, whom sat on his butt in the sandpit from being pushed down by yet another bully. Nitori pulled his hands from over his head and looked up to see Rin Matsuoka, a boy in his fourth grade class, standing in front of him in a defensive stance. Mikoshiba was the one who had pushed Nitori into the sandpit at recess, causing the silver haired boy to cry. The bully didn't have anything against Aiichirou, it was just that he was big and Aiichirou was small.  
Rin was a very happy kid and Nitori was always envious of Haruka Nanase and Rin's other friends whom got to spend time with the red headed boy. But the small boy never had the confidence to go talk to Rin because Nitori was _weird_. Though in this moment, Rin didn't look happy at all. Rather resembling an angry shark on the verge of attacking its next meal. Watching the red hair boy defend him made his hands start to sweat and heart beat in his ears.  
"Why are you defending this baby, Matsuoka? He's just going to cry and get snot all over you! Oh look, he's crying now!" Mikoshiba squawked, his small group of friends laughed from behind him. Nitori's chest clenched as he continued to sit on the ground, staring at the sand covering his shorts. Nitori swiped at his eyes and mumbled, "I'm not crying, there's sand in my eyes."  
Rin scrunched his face and grasped Mikoshiba by the shirt collar, bringing the bully close to his face whilst emitting a low growl. "He's not a baby, _you_ are, because you're being a bully. Why don't you shut your mouth and take a long walk off a short dock, idiot?" Rin spat. Mikoshiba clicked his tongue, yanking his shirt from Rin's grasp, and ran to the basketball court with his friend's in tow.  
Nitori finally collected himself, standing up whilst brushing off his sandy shorts. He was embarrassed because Rin was so cool and he had to defend Nitori, who _wasn't_ cool. The heavy weight of a reassuring hand lay on Aiichirou's shoulder, causing him to look up whilst his ears burned red and heart jumping in his chest. Rin smiled, keeping his hand on he silver haired boys shoulder, "You don't have to worry about those bullies anymore! They're really stupid anyways." Rin released Nitori's shoulder and gave him a thumbs up, "My name is Rin Matsuoka and I promise to protect you from jerk bullies like Mikoshiba, okay?" Nitori nodded, a shy smile splaying across his mouth, and felt his eyes well up with tears.

After that day, Nitori yearned for his red string of fate to be wrapped around Rin Matsuoka's pinky.

 

\- - - - - - - -

 

It was lunch period and the halls were filled with high school students, fighting their way to the cafeteria. Ducking into the bathroom, Nitori locked himself into a stall. Everyday the silver haired boy locked himself in the bathroom during lunch period, whether to eat in peace or read a book. The last time he had gone into the cafeteria, Gou and Chigusa poured an entire pepper shaker into his macaroni and tripped him on his way to throw away his tray. In which he landed face first into his food, making him smell like cheese for the rest of the day.  
Boys came in and out o the restroom, everyone knew he hid in there, but they took it upon themselves to treat him as if he were invisible. Nitori relished that he was, in fact, invisible to everyone. It was safer and made it easier for him to moon over the Matsuoka boy.  
Rin and Aiichirou had literature, maths and science class together. Ai always sat quite the distance from the red headed boy, having the ability to watch every expression that played on his face. Ai wanted to talk to Rin more than anything, or even confess his feelings to release the weight of holding in the secret desire to kiss Rin right on the mouth. But he always said to himself that he couldn't because Rin made his heart beat too fast and his hands really sweaty.  
The bell rang and he sighed at the fact that he was thinking about the Matsuoka boy again. He slunk out of the bathroom whilst keeping hi head low, yet managed to bump shoulder with, coincidentally, with Rin. In which said accidental actions created a chain effect of Nitori dropping his jacket and book on the floor, also causing Rin to drop his paper down the hall. The students filling the halls chattered with laughter at their mishap. Rin stared at Aiichirou, baring teeth while sending him a cold glare, though behind the glare was something Ai couldn't put his finger on. Regret? Pity? Nitori didn't know and didn't particularly want to find out. Quickly bending over and picking up Rin's papers, the smaller boy repetitiously cried out an apology. Rin squat down beside him and began collecting his papers as well. Students chattered and giggled in hushed voices whilst maneuvering about them, purposefully bumping their legs into them and stepping on Nitori's jacket.  
"Just watch where you're going, stupid." Rin said, cutting off Nitori in his mid-babble of an apology. His mouth snapped shut and he nodded, handing over the papers whilst grabbing his own things and scampering down the hall to his class. It was science; Nitori sat down quickly and adjusted his book to hide his face. Flustered and embarrassed, he sighed in relief that Rin didn't beat him up.  
Ever since they had gotten to high school, Rin was cold and distant to everyone around him, including his friends. Being away in Australia, with no he knew, had taken a toll on Rin's once energetic and happy personality. It made Nitori really upset, the red haired boy may be different, but Nitori's love for him was true and never faltered for a second. In that time he was gone, Aiichirou had studied about the Red String of Fate and how to see someones string. Obviously at the time he didn't know if Rin was ever going to come back, but he liked to fantasize that they would meet again one day and the glow of the red string would bind their hearts together. It was childish and embarrassing, bu it was a thought he relished. Then suddenly Rin came back, and Nitori felt like running away and watching his crush from a distance.

It was February, the air was warm and a nice breeze continued throughout the day. Flowers were in full bloom and the cherry blossom trees looked like something out of a shoujou manga. Ai sat in his room reading about the red string of fate and searching the internet on how to convey your feelings. All results came to confessing on Red Day, the silver haired boy pondered the holiday with the thought of revealing his feelings via secret admirer. Even if Matsuoka doesn't know, or doesn't like Nitori back for that matter, Nitori would be able to get the weight of his feelings off his chest. Aiichirou scribbled in his notebook, planning out his attack.  
Aiichirou spent his entire weekend creating a small box full of things to give to Rin. Red Day was coming up agonizingly slow, days seemed to last longer than normal and it was starting to make Ai more nervous and jumpy than usual. When the day finally came, Ai placed the chocolates he made into the box along with the letter he wrote which was signed as 'secret admirer'. The silver haired boy became embarrassed just by looking at the ridiculous box he made, going red faced and he shoved it into his bag and ran to the school.  
The plan was once Rin left his bag unattended he would slip the box inside for him to find at some point in the day. Nothing would lead the Matsuoka to Nitori if he played his cards right. But Nitori didn't play his cards right, as it turns out.  
Rin never left his bag alone the entire day of school, leaving Nitori in a panic. He remembered that the red haired boy goes to the pool after school and so Nitori waited for him to leave his bag in the changing room. On his way to the pool, Rin was stopped by a cute girl, short and curvy, whom gave Rin a bag of chocolates and a letter. Nitori watched from a distance, feeling his heart shatter into a million pieces as he heard the cute girl confess her feelings. Rin just stood there with the chocolates and letter, but as it was his turn to respond, he gave a simple thank you and rejected her. She fled, crying. Nitori felt like crying with her.

Nitori was left in the changing room by himself, as he had come in unnoticed when Rin had went off to the pool. He knew he had to be as quick as possible, but as he got closer to the bag his hands began to shake. Ai noticed the bag of chocolates which lay on Rin's jacket, and he remembered the way the girl ran away crying. The thought of rejection made him choke up. He took a deep breath and unzipped the bag when the creak of the changing room door came from behind him. Quickly he put the box behind his back as he spun around to face the person. "Are you trying to steal my stuff?" Rin asked, rubbing his hair with a towel. Nitori felt himself stop breathing at the sight of Rin, dripping wet, toned muscles and tired.

"N-No! I would never!" Nitori choked out.

"Then why are you touching my bag?"

"W-Well you see, I-I was just---" But the words wouldn't come out. This was the moment he was anticipating and never in his wildest nightmares did he think it would actual happen. Nitori's face was bright red, his heart beat was deafening and his hands shook from behind his back. In a moment he was bowing towards Rin, holding the box out in front of him. He stared at the floor, hearing Rin's wet footsteps come near him and the weight of the box in his hands was gone. He never looked up from the floor, not once.

"I don't like sweets." Rin said popping a chocolate into his mouth. Nitori began to shake even more than before. The sound of paper unfolding made Nitori's skin crawl, he was so afraid and tried to brace himself for rejection but he knew that he was too weak. A thought flew through his mind in a second. jumbled letters that he couldn't understand. A glow of red appeared by his side, a long line of the red light trailed down to his feet all the way across the room. He followed it, all the way up to Rin's hand.  
Rin hadn't said anything about the letter, he just looked at Nitori for a moment. Ai's whole world had gone silent as he stared at the red string, it's like time had stopped with the realization that they were tied together. The light sound of wet footsteps came closer to Nitori, making him stiffen up quickly. Weight of a hand on his head, ruffling his hair, made his whole body flush.

"You're an idiot." Rin sighed. A gentle press on Nitori's lips made him go cross eyed, his first kiss. He kissed Rin back gently.

Aiichirou Nitori _was_ an idiot, but he was an idiot for Rin.


End file.
